'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
PAUL KRUGMAN: America Comes Up Short (The New York Times)
Traveling through Europe recently, I've been able to confirm through personal experience what statistical surveys tell us: the perceived stature of Americans is not what it was. Europeans used to look up to us; now, many of them look down on us instead.
Jim Hightower: A SICK POLICY (jimhightower.com)
If your bosses ever say that you should be working like a beaver - take 'em up on it. Even the most eager beavers only work about five hours a day, mostly at a fairly liesurely pace, and they take frequent vacations from work. Oh, and another thing - you'll never see beavers working when they're sick.
Froma Harrop: The Lightning Wasn't for Rudy (creators.com)
About that bolt of lightning that missed Rudy Giuliani last week: Frankly, Rudy would not have been my first choice for divine retribution on that Republican stage. Was the crackle - which stopped the former New York mayor from fully responding to a Rhode Island bishop's highly personal criticism of his pro-choice views - really meant for him? One doubts it. Messages from above tend to get delivered.
Froma Harrop: Bush Clout on Immigration 'All Used Up' (creators.com)
Immigration reform was to be George W. Bush's legacy. It's now clear that he won't have a legacy to stand on.
Mike Weiss: How victim snared ID thief (sfgate.com)
She chased down woman who had given her 6 months of hell.
Mark Morford: I Do Not Have $1 Million (sfgate.com)
Ergo, I cannot buy a delicious home in San Francisco. Ergo, I am screwed forever.
Emily Wilson: One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding (AlterNet.org)
Pre-World War II, many couples got married in clothes they already owned. Today, they spend thousands. In her new book, One Perfect Day, Rebecca Mead shows how the wedding industry became so powerful and who it has exploited in the process.
Alexander Chancellor: If you are looking for God, try prison (guardian.co.uk)
While there are countless examples of prison conversions, I doubt if any convict has ever found faith as quickly as the 26-year-old heiress Paris Hilton.
Roger Ebert: La Vie en Rose (4 Stars)
From her mother and the prostitute she heard many songs, and one day when his sidewalk act was doing badly, her father commanded her, "Do something." She sang "La Marseilles." And Edith Piaf was born.
Marina Hyde: Bruce's one-man war on everything (guardian.co.uk)
Without question, Lost in Showbiz's movie event of the summer will be the July release of Live Free Or Die Hard, a surprise fourth instalment of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colours trilogy, in which a fairly damaged woman - probably played by Isabelle Adjani - is forced to choose between living free or ... hang on. My apologies. It's actually a marginally less surprising fourth run-out for the Die Hard franchise...
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, and a bit cooler.
Daytime Emmy Awards
Winners
Winners of Daytime Emmy Awards presented at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles:
Drama series (tie): "Guiding Light" and "The Young and the Restless."
Lead actress in a drama series: Maura West, "As the World Turns."
Lead actor in a drama series: Christian LeBlanc, "The Young and the Restless."
Supporting actress in a drama series: Genie Francis, "General Hospital."
Supporting actor in a drama series: Rick Hearst, "General Hospital."
Younger actress in a drama series: Jennifer Landon, "As the World Turns."
Younger actor in a drama series: Bryton McClure, "The Young and the Restless."
Game show host: Bob Barker, "The Price Is Right."
Talk show: "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
Talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres.
Directing in a drama series: "As the World Turns."
Writing in a drama series: "Guiding Light."
Performer in a children's series (tie): Kevin Clash as Elmo, "Sesame Street," and Caroll Spinney as Oscar the Grouch, "Sesame Street."
Lifetime achievement: Lee Phillip Bell, co-creator of "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful."
Winners
Rocks For Charity In Kiev
Elton John
Elton John gave a free charitable concert on Kiev's Independence Square on Saturday in a bid to draw attention to the AIDS problem in Ukraine.
"I am here to support you all against AIDS," the singer told his 200,000-strong audience, which included President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's former leader Leonid Kuchma, Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin and top government officials.
Volunteers handed out condoms and leaflets detailing contacts for HIV testing and counselling centers before the concert, which was broadcast live on Ukrainian television.
Elton John
Girl Scout For Life
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton is a country singer, songwriter, movie star, amusement park owner and philanthropist. Now she's a Girl Scout, too.
Parton, 60, was named a lifetime member of Girls Scouts of Tanasi Council during a presentation before 1,000 Girl Scouts at her Dollywood theme park Friday evening.
"While I was never a Girl Scout myself when I was a kid, I always wanted to be," Parton said in a statement. "This great honor lets me live out a dream and to be part of an organization that stands for many of the same values I do and Dollywood does."
Dolly Parton
'Midnight Express' Mea Culpa
Billy Hayes
Billy Hayes, the American whose ordeal in a Turkish jail provided the basis for the 1978 classic "Midnight Express," has returned to Turkey in a bid to mend fences over the damage the movie caused to the country's image abroad, newspapers reported Saturday.
In 1970, Hayes, then aged 23, was caught at an Istanbul airport trying to smuggle hashish and sentenced to 30 years.
He managed to escape from jail and the book he wrote about his ordeal was adapted into a screenplay by Oliver Stone and the movie, directed by Alan Parker, won two Oscars.
Back in Istanbul after three decades to attend an international security conference, Hayes admitted that the image the movie created of Turkey and the Turkish people "was not fair to them or true to my experience."
Billy Hayes
Writing Children's Science Fiction Novel
Stephen Hawking
Talk about science fiction - Stephen Hawking, author of the million-selling "A Brief History of Time," is writing a "middle-grade" novel.
"George's Secret Key to the Universe," the story of a young man's computer-driven adventures, will be published this fall by Simon & Schuster.
The book, co-written with Hawking's daughter, author Lucy Hawking, is the story of a boy named George who befriends a scientist and the scientist's daughter. George soon "finds himself on a wildly fun adventure, while learning about physics, time and the universe."
Stephen Hawking
Wedding News
Lancaster - Stewart
British rocker Rod Stewart married model Penny Lancaster in a private ceremony Saturday on the Italian Riviera, gathering with a few friends and family in a 17th-century villa, according to Italian news reports.
The couple wed in Santa Margherita Ligure, just outside the posh Portofino resort on Italy's northwestern coast, according to the ANSA news agency and other reports. His label was not immediately available for comment.
A few friends and family attended the small ceremony, according to ANSA and private Sky TG24 news. Afterward, the newlyweds went back to a yacht just off the coast where they have been staying, ANSA said.
Lancaster - Stewart
Anthrax Scare
ABC News
A portion of a sixth-floor ABC News office housing "Good Morning America" was closed down for five hours Friday afternoon after an employee found a letter containing an unidentified white powder.
A portion of a floor in the building at 147 Columbus Ave. was shut down after 1 p.m. when the unnamed employee found the letter. Addressed to "Good Morning America" weatherman Sam Champion, the letter mentioned anthrax.
The area was sealed off, with employees still there, as police and hazardous-material specialists scoured the area and worked to identify the suspicious substance that had been sent with the letter. Initial tests on the substance were negative for anthrax, and the all-clear was given to return around 6 p.m.
ABC News said police were questioning a "person of interest" in connection with the case. The news organization said that "Good Morning America" operations would resume Friday and continue throughout the weekend. Even though tests for anthrax came back negative, the area would be thoroughly cleaned.
ABC News
Welcome Recognition
Navajo Code Talkers
Navajo code talkers have already been the subject of a Hollywood film and received congressional medals for their wartime service. Now, surviving members of the crack communications team are to be featured on a postage stamp, and the Arizona state legislature plans a memorial to them outside the state capitol in Phoenix.
When the United States was pitched in to the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, veterans say many Navajo on the reservation took it personally and rushed to join the armed forces.
"We wanted to get even," said Samuel Smith, 82, who went to war aged 17. "It was my intention to defend my little piece of land that I was herding sheep on."
Navajo Code Talkers
50 Years Later
Frisbee
Wham-O Inc. changed the name of the Pluto Platter to Frisbee 50 years ago Sunday, flinging a new word into the cultural ether that still conjures images of carefree fun in the park and breezy days at the beach.
And to think Walter "Fred" Morrison, the inventor of the beloved disc, thought the new moniker would never fly.
"I thought Frisbee was a terrible name," Morrison, now 87, said. "I thought it was insane."
Frisbee instead became insanely popular, making the name as synonymous with flying discs as Google is with searching the Internet and Kleenex is with tissue.
Frisbee
Thousands Found In Shipwreck
Pearls
Salvagers discovered thousands of pearls Friday in a small, lead box they said they found while searching for the wreckage of the 17th-century Spanish galleon Santa Margarita.
Divers from Blue Water Ventures of Key West said they found the sealed box, measuring 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches, along with a gold bar, eight gold chains and hundreds of other artifacts earlier this week.
They were apparently buried beneath the ocean floor in approximately 18 feet of water about 40 miles west of Key West.
"There are several thousand pearls starting from an eighth of an inch to three-quarters of an inch," said Duncan Mathewson, marine archaeologist and partner in Blue Water Ventures.
Pearls
Group Seeks To Restore Houses
Frank Lloyd Wright
Pieces of architectural history sit on Milwaukee's south side - a row of four duplexes and two cottages designed by Frank Lloyd Wright more than 90 years ago for low-to-moderate-income families.
But years of extreme makeovers, including aluminum siding added to one house, rendered some of them shells of their former designs. Now a nonprofit group wants to restore the Frank Lloyd Wright charm to one of the single-family homes - right down to the crushed quartz stone-infused stucco on the exterior.
Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin has bought one of the single-family houses and a duplex, and plans to start restoring an 850-square-foot, two-bedroom home to its 1916 condition, possibly as early as fall.
The group hopes to make it a museum, inspire others to renovate the four remaining structures and motivate architects to design housing for the disadvantaged.
Frank Lloyd Wright
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